In December 2022, Harry was found to be the third most disliked member of the British royal family by YouGov, preceded by his uncle Prince Andrew and his wife Meghan. The criticism was in line with the reactions the royal family faced in June 2019, after it was revealed that they “had doubled their carbon footprint from business travel”. Harry referred to the incident as the “CBE scandal” in December 2021 and stated that he severed ties with Mahfouz in 2015 after expressing “growing concerns” about his motives, though aides from his father’s household denied having any discussions with him regarding Mahfouz. Chandauka reported the charity to the Charity Commission due to what she described as “poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoir – and the coverup that ensued”. In March 2021, it was reported that the Charity Commission for England and Wales was conducting a review of the Sussex Royal organisation in a “regulatory and compliance case” regarding its conduct under charity law during dissolution. In June 2019, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would split from The Royal Foundation and establish their own charity foundation by the end of 2019.

LISTEN: Why 2026 could look very different for Prince Harry and his family

Prince Harry may be closer than ever to a reunion with the royal family following a significant legal win in his long running fight over security in the UK. Harry faced difficulties with obtaining and maintaining publicly funded security, both in Canada and the United Kingdom, after he and Meghan announced their self-demotion within the royal family. Prince Harry and his father, King Charles III, have reunited amid the royal family’s estrangement from the outspoken prince. Harry has previously expressed his feelings about the removal of royal security and maintained that the UK was unsafe for him and his family, including wife Meghan Markle and their two children, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4. The Duke of Sussex previously lost his court challenge after Ravec ruled he was no longer eligible for state funded security because he is no longer considered a working royal.

Sussex Royal and Archewell

• In October 2008, it was announced that Harry would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters.
• He added that he had struggled with aggression, had suffered from anxiety during royal engagements, and had been “very close to a complete breakdown on numerous occasions”.
• In January 2022, the couple mutually filed a legal complaint against The Times for an article reporting on Archewell raising less than $50,000 in 2020.
• In April 2020, the Duke and Duchess announced that they would no longer cooperate with the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Mirror and the Express.
• A September 2020 article by The Times claiming an Invictus Games fundraiser had been cancelled due to its affiliation with a competitor of Netflix, Harry’s business partner, became the subject of a legal complaint issued by the Duke.
• Then, in December, the full-scale review of the Duke of Sussex’s security by the official body that assesses how royals and VIPs are guarded commenced.

In October 2024, the judge announced that the two sides should either settle or go to trial in January 2025 and refused to let Harry’s team include allegations that bugs were placed in rooms and cars, and trackers placed on vehicles as “no particulars whatsoever of such allegations” were provided. In May 2024, Mr Justice Fancourt refused Harry the permission to include claims against Rupert Murdoch, expand his case’s scope back to 1994 and 1995 to cover allegations involving his mother or to add new allegations from 2016 involving his then-girlfriend Meghan. In July 2023, the judge ruled that part of Harry’s case involving allegations of illegal information gathering would go to trial but his phone-hacking claims were dismissed for being made too late. Both brothers brought a claim privately through their mutual attorneys, but Harry decided to pursue his case separately with a new solicitor in 2019.

• In October 2008, Harry and his brother embarked on the 1,000 mile eight-day Enduro Africa motorbike ride across South Africa to raise money for Sentebale, UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
• “Of course some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But you know … I would love reconciliation with my family … There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. And life is precious,” Harry told the BBC.
• It emerged during that case that he and Meghan, 44, and the family had not had an assessment since 2019.
• To be reunited with his father, King Charles.
• Since Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan, moved to California in 2020, they have been highly critical of the royal family and the institution in interviews, TV documentaries and Harry’s autobiography, “Spare.”

Harry has repeatedly said that without such security cover, he is unable to bring his wife, Meghan Markle, 44, and their two children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, to the country of his birth — insisting he doesn’t feel safe doing so. There is now a belief that, barring a last-minute intervention from opponents, the duke will be granted the armed guards and institutional backup he used to get when he was a working royal. Sources at the Home Office have indicated that security is nailed on for Harry.”
Harry later appeared for a two-day hearing in May and his legal team argued that his life was at risk without proper protection. In June 2013, BritainsDNA announced that genealogical DNA tests on two of Harry and William’s distant matrilineal cousins confirm Kewark was matrilineally of Indian descent. Harry and his brother William descend matrilineally from Eliza Kewark (18th-century), who is variously described in contemporary documents as “a dark-skinned native woman”, “an Armenian woman from Bombay”, and “Mrs. Forbesian”.
It was later announced that the series, titled The harry casino Me You Can’t See, would be released on 21 May 2021. In April 2019, it was announced that Harry was working as co-creator and executive producer on a documentary series about mental health together with Oprah Winfrey, which was initially set to air in 2020 on Apple TV+. In April 2024, it was announced that Archewell Productions is working with Netflix to produce two new shows – on lifestyle and on polo – for the streaming platform. In June 2023, Spotify announced they would not proceed with the deal, cancelling Archetypes which had run for a single season of 12 episodes. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple had hired New York-based PR firm Sunshine Sachs, which represented them until 2022. In December 2025, it was announced that, for the first time since April 2019, RAVEC would reassess Harry’s threat level.

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In May 2025, Harry was interviewed by Nada Tawfik of the BBC, during which he reflected on his loss of taxpayer-funded security and his ongoing estrangement from his family. In the interview with Bradby, Harry said that he “would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back”. During the interview, Harry criticised his father’s parenting style, mentioned his father did not answer his calls and had cut him off financially, and he had no relationship with his brother. Despite the palace congratulating the Duke and Duchess on the birth of their daughter Lilibet in June 2021, a few days later the BBC reported that Harry and Meghan had not sought the permission of the Queen before naming their daughter with her personal family nickname. In March 2020, the couple took Splash UK to court after the Duchess and their son were photographed without permission during a “private family outing” while staying in Canada. The publisher agreed to cover Harry’s legal costs and pay damages reported to be in the region of £300,000.

Will Meghan Markle finally return to the UK this summer alongside Prince Harry?

They gave up the lease after photos of the house and its interior were published by a paparazzi agency. In May 2018, it was reported that they had signed a two-year lease on WestfieldLarge, located on the Great Tew Estate in the Cotswolds. However, this earlier exchange of vows was not an official religious or legally recognised marriage. In early 2009, it was reported the pair had parted ways after a relationship that had lasted for five years. On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that an agreement had been reached for Harry “to step back from Royal duties, including official military appointments”. On 19 December 2017, he succeeded his grandfather Prince Philip as the Captain General Royal Marines.
Then, in December, the full-scale review of the Duke of Sussex’s security by the official body that assesses how royals and VIPs are guarded commenced. Harry lost his full security cover when he and Meghan stepped back from frontline royal duties in 2020. On Jan. 4, The Mail on Sunday reported that the committee had found that the criteria for the top-level security measures had been met. He is currently fifth-in-line to the throne, although he is no longer a working member of the British royal family after giving up his senior role in 2020. Agnatically, Harry is a member of the House of Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, one of Europe’s oldest royal houses. On 18 January 2020, Buckingham Palace announced that, following their decision to step back from royal duties, from 31 March 2020 the Duke and Duchess would not use their Royal Highness styles in practice or publicly.

The brothers also received the original lyrics and score of “Candle in the Wind”, by Bernie Taupin and Elton John, as performed by John at Diana’s funeral. Harry and his brother William inherited the “bulk” of the £12.9 million left by their mother on their respective 30th birthdays, a figure that had grown since her 1997 death to £10 million each in 2014. His mother died in a car crash in Paris the following year while he and William were staying with their father at Balmoral Castle.
In October 2008, it was announced that Harry would follow his brother, father and uncle in learning to fly military helicopters. As was the case with his brother, the royal family and the tabloid press agreed Harry would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for occasional photograph opportunities in what became known as the “pressure cooker agreement”. It did, however, see Harry follow in his elder brother’s footsteps and the Spencer family’s, as both his mother’s father and her brother attended Eton. Harry, who recently lost a legal battle with the British government over his security, said in May that he wanted to repair his family relationships despite past emotional tensions.
In early June 2007, it was reported that Harry had arrived in Canada to train alongside soldiers of the Canadian Forces and British Army, at CFB Suffield near Medicine Hat, Alberta. By 16 May, however, Dannatt announced that Harry would not serve in Iraq; concerns included Harry being a high-value target (as several threats by various groups had already been made against him) and the dangers the soldiers around him would face should any attempt be made on his life or if he were captured. In 2006 it was announced that Harry’s unit was scheduled to be deployed in Iraq the following year. The decision to place Harry at Eton went against the past practice of the Mountbatten-Windsors to send children to Gordonstoun, which his grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins had attended.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond stated that “additional security arrangements” were put in place, for Harry could be a potential target, but added that he would face “the same risk as any other Apache pilot” while in combat. On 18 September 2012, it was reported that Harry had been moved to a safe location after an attack by the Taliban on Camp Bastion that killed two US marines. On 10 September, within days of arriving in Afghanistan, it was reported that the Taliban had threatened his life. In the same month, it was reported that Harry was top of his class in extensive training undertaken at the Naval Air Facility, El Centro, California. In June 2011, Clarence House announced that Harry would be available for deployment in current operations in Afghanistan as an Apache helicopter pilot.